HelpX

< About Us
Menu
 

About Us

XKFMA - Menu

Home About Farmers' Markets Contact Us Most Popular pages
Market Calendar - When do they open? Market Map - Find a Market What can I buy at a Farmers' Market? What's in season? Advice and Guidance
Members (Producers and Managers) Selling at a Farmers' Market Managing a Market Search:

Why Shop In October

THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND

Kent and Medway account for 2.7% of England's land yet over 8.5% of England's horticultural holdings were located in Kent and Medway. Kent and Medway produces 40% of the horticultural products consumed in the UK

We, 'Kent Farmers Market Association' (KFMA) have over 500 small local producers selling quality food produce at our local Farmers Markets (plus at least 250 makers of craft wares). The variety of produce is unique and much not even seen at your local Supermarket. However, a common problem for most of these small producers is how do we inform the general shopping public about our produce ? and 'How do they find us to buy our produce ? '. They are so busy producing that most have little time to spend on marketing and very few of them have any experience in this field.

Consequently, one of the key roles of KFMA is to help PROMOTE these Markets and Producers by acting as their shop window. and illustrate the LOCATION of markets and Producers.

KFMA also offer practical advice to help them grow their businesses and informs them about food reatil regulations, .

We have now expanded these principles to other local food and drink producers many of whom also suffer from this same lack of PROMOTION and, in particular, WHERE they are located and where the general public can purchase their products. We thave divided these producers into food and drink sectors. To date we have added:-

FARM SHOPS These have grown from sales at the farm gate to retailing from unique selling locations, with plenty of parking space, intersting buildlings PLUS their own LOCAL produce . These 'shops' have enabled many farmers to diversify and offer other attractions. They, plus Farmers Markets, have now become the bastions for retailing of local produce. Both have also grown in variety of produce sold and both attract 'Local Artisan Producers' .

VINEYARDS With climate change and the realisation that the geology of the south east of England is very similar to that of parts of France, Vineyards have seen major growth in Kent and Sussex in the last 15 years. Many of these businesses are now adding value to their original purpose by using their locations as assets in their own right and have iversified with the addition of vineyard tours, food and shops bringing in locals and toursits alike.

MICRO BREWERIES The interest in local beers and different types of beers have seen a major growth in micro breweries all over the country. This growth has been especially high in Kent and Sussex stimulated with the resurgance of the hop industry. Again they are diversifying to make their locations attractive to visitors

SOFT DRINKS & CIDER

Both Kent and East Sussex are tradintional fruit growing areas. Recently. old and new apple and pear orhards are regenerating with new customers wanting new soft drink tastes. Innovations such as revival of old varities and mixing apple with other local Kentish fruits (e.g. Raspberry) are changing the market. The same is happening with cider i.e. unpasteurised version of apple juice. Apple cider is becoming a key element in cooking whilst Apple Cider vinegar is also growing both as a marinade and health drink.

FARMERS MARKETS

To date there are just over 50 Market Members of our Association which run over 1200 markets every year. Over 450 Producers attend these markets plus 200 which are craft makers. We also have a waiting list of producers lokking for Markets to sell their wares.

Our Stallholders/Producers sell an amazing variety of produce. Click here to see the Producers selling at ALL Farmers Markets in Kent.

and Click here to find out what is sold at each Farmers Market

ABOUT KENT FARMERS MARKET ASSOCIATION

Kent Farmers Market Association was set up in 2006 following a review of Farmers Markets conducted by University of Canterbury. Their main finding was that Markets and Producers and the shopping public would obtain considerable benefits by mutual co-operation. In particular by:-

  • Championing local food and drink sold directly by the Producer to the consumer.

  • Adding to the local economy by increasing the income of local producers, who in turn increase the spend in the local economy

    THE FUTURE ASSOCIATION

    With the realisation of the health benefits of eating local produce and the detrimental impact of Ultra Processed Foods combined with facility of buying food in far more interesting environments ,there has been a major increase in demand for LOCAL PRODUCEall over the country. In Kent this demand has also been further 'enhanced' by the growth of the local wine and micro brewery industries which have grown from a base of a few hobbyists to a major industry. This concept of shopping in an interesting environment has also helped farmers diversify and create new income streams.

    The first, and still most important role of KFMA, was to develop a web site on behalf of all Farmers Markets and Producers so the shopping public had one place to go to find information about Farmers Markets in Kent. We created our 'one stop web site'. We have now widened our key objective to become the 'one stop local food web site' to enable the shopping public have one web site to find growers and retailers of local produce. To date we have completed Vineyards, Farm Shops and Micro-Breweries sectors and we will be adding more food sectors in the near future.

    We believe we can offer the same benefits of mutual co-operation to all Producers and Retailers of local food in Kent (and the South East) by:-

  • Promoting Local Food and Drink Producers and retailers in Kent and the South East.

  • Providing a facility to enable Retailers of local produce to easily find local producers and vice versa.

  • Providing a 'One stop shop' web site for visitors to the area and local shoppers to help them find retailers of local produce and drinks in specific areas.

  • Offering our existing large network of shoppers of local produce who use our web site to new local food and drink sectors

  • adding 'EatDrinkLocal' to become our common brand .

  • Expanding our Advice and Guidance re food quality standards to Retail Outlets of local produce

  • Providing start up guidance for new local food outlets

  • Stimulating the public’s understanding of the health benefits of eating local food in season and the environmental benefits of reducing food miles

  • Representing Local Food and Drink PRODUCERS to ensure future needs are recognized by local and national government and other formal organisations.

  • Making best use of Managers’ and Producer members’ time and money through use of standard web design templates and social media marketing.

    • Edit Image Bar ItemX

    Target